I started another vintage 200k brevet (on my 1975 Eisentraut) this past weekend down in the Ventura-Santa Barbara area but I did not finish! Instead, I fell when my front tire blew out on a road hazard and I was thrown down hard onto the tarmac and brush on the side of Pacific Coast Highway near Rincon and broke my right collarbone. Two of three other riders who were just behind me also got flats in the same spot - it was a sharp rock. They and other passing riders helped me get unclipped from my pedals and make phone calls to the brevet organizer, then my wife, and finally 911. The other riders with the flats were having problems booting their tire so I had them get into my patching kit for more supplies - all while lying flat on my back as the pain of the broken collarbone and considerable road rash began to take over.

So by the end of the day I was back home gulping Vicodin like Dr House. This 200k was the 9th in a row for R-12 credit so it looks like I won't be getting an R-12 in 2012 like I had planned. I also probably won't be back on the bike in time for the 300k brevet I had lined up on August 11th. I will be keeping my vintage century string in tact, though, since I had already completed the July ride over ACH and I will be OK by late August. I still plan on riding the Furnace Creek 508 in October on the Eisentraut (there is a "classic bike" division!). I have not made sure the Eisentraut is not bent, it's just too hard to handle a bike one-handed, but it should be OK.

Be careful out there! - Jim